


Missing

by inabodycastofglass



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-15 20:54:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11239002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabodycastofglass/pseuds/inabodycastofglass
Summary: Something in Asch's life was missing.





	Missing

Something was missing. He’d been noticing it all week, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Something felt empty. Though empty was a feeling he was used to, this felt different; like something had always been there, but now it was just… gone. But what?

He went about his day as usual. School, tutoring, swim practice, homework. But he wasn’t thinking about any of it. His mind was constantly on that thing that was missing, all day. What on earth was it?

The phone rang after dinner, and he found himself walking to it automatically, despite never having any desire to talk to anyone, let alone over the phone. He would rather just write an e-mail and get it over with. Human contact seemed pointless to him.

His mother answered it and began chatting away. He assumed it was one of her friends from her knitting club, which was an acronym for “sitting around and talking over tea”. His assumption was proven when she mentioned “the boys”. He didn’t care to hear this conversation, so he retreated to his room for the night to read.

Laying on his bed, he felt as if someone was sitting on his chest, through his chest. It was more than just a weight. It was a deep penetration, infecting him from inside, like a virus. He didn’t even know it was there until it was already too late to fix. There was nothing he could do after he figured out what was missing, but he needed to know anyway. What was it?

His mother called him downstairs, saying he was wanted on the phone. He rolled his eyes. Who on earth would want to talk to him? Let alone at this hour. It was already nearly ten.

He pushed himself out of bed, grumbling about how he didn’t want to talk to anyone, he didn’t like anyone, and he just wanted to be left alone to his thoughts. This was ridiculous. If he thought he ever, ever gave people the impression that he wanted friends, that would be one thing, but he consciously avoided that idiotic idea.

He made his way into the kitchen and his mother handed him the phone, grinning for some reason. He just took it and put it to his ear.

“Hello?” His annoyance was palpable. Maybe if he could convince them he really didn’t want to talk, they’d leave him alone.

“Asch!" Natalia's voice, coming so unexpectedly, made his stomach flip. "I apologise for calling so late. I really have no excuse. I have been talking with my new roommate until midnight every night. She's absolutely fantastic. I think you would really like her.”

And just like that he was back to normal. No, not technically normal. There was something that replaced it, something light. A sort of longing, pulling at the back of his chest, forcing his mouth open to speak.

“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t doing anything important.”

“Oh, good. I was worried I'd woken you or something. You sounded upset.”

“No. I was just reading.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I know you hate being interrupted.”

“Really, it’s fine.” It wasn’t like Natalia to keep apologising like this. Still, he couldn’t help but smile. It should have been obvious that she was what he was missing.

“All right. I wanted to tell you about the business programme here.” She continued on like that, telling him nearly every detail about her experience in the past week for an hour. Asch just sat down on the floor, closed his eyes, and listened to her. He felt so much better just from hearing her voice. He didn’t know what he would do without her. No, he would never be able to live without her. Just a week and he was going insane.

“I’ll let you get to bed now. I just wanted to talk to you. I’ve been super busy lately, but I missed you.”

“Yeah. I missed you too.”

There was silence on the other side, and he thought maybe she’d hung up already. He kind of hoped she had. But eventually she spoke.

“Really? I mean, I hadn’t expected- I'm glad.”

He didn’t respond. Just nodded. He was sure, mostly, that she knew he was doing so. She knew him better than anyone. Even when he ran away years ago, she was the one that knew exactly where he went, and how to bring him back.

“I won’t be back for a bit more than a month. But I hope you won’t be too bothered by me calling once in awhile.”

He shook his head. “No. I won’t mind.”

“Great. I have to go now. I still have to finish a paper before I go to sleep.”

“Okay.” She paused. “Well, good night then.”

“Yeah, night.”

He hung up, his hand lingering on the phone for a bit longer. Slowly he rested his head on the wall and sighed.

“I love you.”


End file.
